Postwar home, no phone: Can you imagine? Walk to town -- and let everyone overhear you?

Pioneer Press

Posted:
03/04/2014 12:01:00 AM CST

Updated:
03/05/2014 08:41:20 AM CST

Writes Coleikama of Roseville: "When my husband grew up on a farm in western Wisconsin, during the early '50s, his family had no telephone.

"He walked 1-1/2 miles into town to use the phone at the grocery store. Everyone overheard the conversation, whether he was setting up a date or arranging for his buddy to pick him up for Saturday night.

"He had to make plans far ahead, and there were no last-minute calls to change his plans.

"This came to mind while we were dining at a restaurant at Rosedale on a Saturday night. Noticing the number of phones displayed by other customers around us, I asked our waitress what percentage of people she served were talking on the phone or had their phones beside them on the table.

Our theater of seasons -- or: The vision thing

Writes JIM FROM WEST ST. PAUL: "Had a tow yesterday. Poor old fellow had driven the length of Robert Street in West St. Paul. Hit every pothole. Not much left."

She told us it was 95 percent.

"Nowadays, we never need to be out of touch.

"Oh, and now everyone can overhear your conversations, too."

Hmmmmmmmm

Too timid of Maplewood: "The cover of the 50th Anniversary Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition shows three women with their backs to the camera.

"I think they misspelled anniversary. The nn should have been ss."

Great comebacks

The Roseville Redneck: "Of all the irritating ads on television, the one that bothers me the most is the one that advises us to change our mattresses every six or seven years.

"Hell, I don't even change my sheets that often!"

Till death us do part

Mrs.

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Patches of St. Paul: "Patches and I were married on March 5, 1986. I remembered it as a bitterly cold night, guessing it was near zero -- but in looking up the statistics, I found that temperatures were 25 to 37 degrees F., with winds of 23 mph gusting to nearly 40 mph. Cold enough!

"But what a wonderful warm and joyous wedding to start our marriage! Family and friends from Northfield and the Faribault area and from the Twin Cities made this such a joyous occasion. In almost all the reception pictures, a friend from Dundas, who lived then in St. Paul, was in the background, talking to people from 'home.' I said to him after I looked at the pictures (before the days of digital instant-gratification photos): 'You sure had a good time at our wedding!' He said it was like a hometown reunion, but they all came to us!

"Now we are at 28 years and counting: Patches, and me, Mrs. Patches of St. Paul! Love you, Honey!"

Vanity, thy name is...

Peggy T of Osceola, Wis.: "Mr. T and I got a chuckle out of a license plate yesterday. We saw a license plate on a Minnesota truck that said: 'ARRR.'

"Isn't that the way most of us who live in this area feel about this winter?"

BULLETIN BOARD SAYS: That's the way most of us who live in this area feel about every winter, along about mid-February. Thank goodness for May through October; without them, we'd all be characters in an uncharacteristically bleak Ingmar Bergman movie.

'Tis the season ... still? (responsorial)

In reply to Gigetto on Lincoln, self-appointed "chief of the Wreath Police" (BB, 3/1/2014), here is Jp of South St. Paul: "I don't know where I gained this information -- most likely my mom. I was told that Christmas wreaths were to be taken down prior to the beginning of Lent -- which is this Wednesday. [Bulletin Board says: It's "this Wednesday" already? Once again, we missed Mardi Gras!] My wreath was taken down as per this information.

"I can only assume that this would include Christmas decorations as well. However, due to our weather this year, some decorations are probably frozen in place in some yards. I did leave up two snowmen decorations; it seemed appropriate, considering that the weather precluded making any. The grandkids and I did find a day to make a snow tunnel and a short sliding hill, though. We do the best we can under these circumstances. That is Minnesota Nice, you know."

What's in a name?

Tuesday email from Semi-Legend: "I saw today's 'Website of the Day, from Double Bogey Mike: Russian flash mob "Puttin' on the Ritz," at http://tinyurl.com/Russ-Ritz,' and I thought: 'Must be a typo. Shouldn't it be "Putin on the Ritz" '?"

What's in a name?

Or: 14,001 things to gripe about -- culminating in: Oopps!

Katrinka of Woodbury: "It is a pet peeve of mine when people spell my name incorrectly (Kathy instead of Cathy).

"It mostly occurs at work, but has also happened on correspondence from friends and relatives. Luckily my mother always gets it right!

"We recently received a thank you card that stated: 'Peggy & Greg, Thank you for being such great friends.' I must admit, it did make me smile."

Everyone's a copy editor!

Tuesday email from Rocky's Mom of St. Paul Park: "Headline in style section: 'It's never to late to learn from your fashion mistakes.'

"I'm wondering: Is it 'to late to learn' from your spelling mistakes?"

BULLETIN BOARD SAYS: No, it is not -- though it is often, alas, too late to remedy them!

Month at a Glance (responsorial)

"Yesterday, March 1st, was listed as Sock Monkey Day. I smiled. Sock monkeys almost always make me smile. I called my sister and told her about Sock Monkey Day; sock monkeys make her smile, too.

"In checking my emails before going to bed last night, I noticed one from the younger of my Hong Kong brothers. It was a picture of a Christmas card I'd sent him around the middle of last December. (The greeting inside the card was something along the lines of 'Theathon'th Gweetingth.' ) Looks like he finally got it. Yesterday. Sock Monkey Day."

Out of the mouths of babes

Sharon of Roseville: "Ten-year-old Lexi and I had lunch today and had a conversation covering a wide range of topics, including slavery, the assassinations of President Kennedy and President Lincoln, and why I shouldn't get a facelift (because they might mess up my eyes and I wouldn't be able to read).

"As we left the restaurant, she told me that an acorn was a seed for a tree, but she didn't know which kind and thought it was a conifer.

"Me: 'No Lexi, it is a deciduous tree -- an oak tree.'

"Lexi: 'What kind of seeds do pine trees have?'

"Me: 'Pine cones. Do you know how the seeds get planted?'

"Lexi: 'No.'

" 'Squirrels eat them and poop them out somewhere else,' I replied wisely. 'Didn't God do a good job of planning our planet?'